Case studies


was widely understood as pressure on NMG to
rein in the Monitor, which had continued car-
rying many stories critical of the President and
the government. The news media in Uganda,
as indeed in the rest of East Africa, continue to
face both blatant and subtle political pressure.
The region's news media also continue to
battle against strict media legislation, such as
laws on sedition, which criminalise publica-
tion offences. In Kenya, where the bench is
notorious for awarding exorbitant damages
in defamation cases filed by public officials,
civil law also remains a problem, especially
when some judges have gone as far as ruling
that private-commercial media cannot use
'public interest' in their defence. But these
political and legal strictures may not in fact be
the biggest threats to the media in East Africa.
The proliferation of newspapers and broadcast
stations following the liberalisation of the
airwaves in the 1990s often obscures the eco-
nomic challenges and in-house problems that
the region's media continue to grapple with.
Newspaper circulation remains alarmingly
low in countries such as Uganda and Rwanda.
For instance, in Uganda, with a population of
nearly 30 million, the combined daily news-
paper circulation is still estimated at less than
100,000 copies. The story is different in neigh-
bouring Kenya where the leading newspaper,
the Daily Nation, circulates about 170,000
copies a day. But generally, all over the region
only about four newspapers in each country
sell more than 10,000 copies a day. In fact,
with a few exceptions in each country, many
of the region's media outlets remain shaky
business enterprises. Moreover, while there
appears to be sufficient media diversity in
the region, with emerging community media
competing for audiences alongside aggressive
commercial outlets as well as state-owned
media, there are also fears that conglomeration
could in future undermine the media pluralism
that democracy demands.
The challenge of professionalism also remains.
Although the region's journalists are better
trained than ever before (several universities
in the region now offer degrees in journalism
and mass communication), there are still con-
cerns over professionalism and ethical stand-
ards in many newsrooms. The glaring inac-
curacies, lack of context, depth and analytical
rigour in the news coverage of many media
outlets as well as cases of 'brown envelope'
journalism undermine the credibility of media
institutions. Moreover, many newsrooms have
little 'institutional memory' because many of
the region's journalists end up in the more
lucrative fields of marketing, public relations,
and the NGO sector.


SPECIAL ISSUE 2 N.E. DECEMBER 2008


Daily NATION


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important newspapers in Eastern and central
Nation


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frica; Daily Nation; Nation
oup (NMG); Daily Monitor;
monitor ; KFM; NTV; Els de
ian; Yoweri Museveni


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